Village seeking input on zoning in potential annexation area

Published: September 13, 2000 12:00 AM

The question of what happens to farms if they are annexed into the village through the legislative annexation on the November ballot raises zoning issues, as well as questions about the use of firearms in the corporation limits and open burning.

Village officials will meet with affected farmers Sunday at 1 p.m. at village hall to get input. "The village is interested in learning the farmer's views on land-use controls in the potential annexation area because of their unique situation," Doylestown Mayor Earl Kerr said.

"We currently have no agricultural zoning per se in the village," he said. "It is a situation that is relatively unique in regard to our zoning and so we want to talk to the people most directly affected and learn their position on how farmland should be zoned and how that zoning should be structured."

Landowners in the northeastern quarter of the township would be affected by the annexation. Village officials proposed the annexation to thwart a Joint Economic Development District in that area between Chippewa Township and the City of Barberton.

The JEDD, which township officials pursued to stop threats of annexation by Barberton, would affect approximately 633 acres around state Route 21 and Hametown, Grill and North Portage roads. The JEDD would allow commercial and light industrial development through water and sewer service extended from Barberton.

[Article continues below]

Voters will decide the fate of both issues in November. Township voters outside municipal boundaries will vote on the annexation issue while all township voters will vote on the JEDD.

Tom Van Nostran, whose Grill Road farm is in the proposed annexation area and is adjacent to the JEDD area, encouraged other farmers to attend the meeting. "Between now and the election people need to get as much information as possible," he said.

What voters decide in November will have a long-term affect. People need to get as much information as possible so they can use their vote to make the best choice for their future, Van Nostran said.

Kerr is looking forward to getting input. "It had been our intent to rezone everything in the potential annexation area that is currently R-1 to our own version of R-1, titled rural residential zoning," he said.

That classification would leave frontages, minimum lot sizes, etc. exactly as they are in the township today to minimize any impact of the change, he said. "Our thinking in that was that simply swapping township R-1 for village R-1 with essentially no changes would be the least threatening land-use controls that we could apply.

"However, in discussion with farmers in the affected area it became obvious that there is a desire for more stringent land-use controls than R-1 currently affords," Kerr said, "In other words, some of the farmers would prefer to have strictly agricultural zoning to further enhance their ability to protect their farmland uses."

Addressing the issues of discharging a fire arm and open burning, he said the village laws in those areas are based on state requirements. "In the case of discharge of weapons, our current codified ordinances mirrors precisely the state code," he said.

The restrictions are based on safety factors. "And so there is absolutely no difference in the legality of discharging a firearm inside the village limits of Doylestown or outside the limits of Doylestown in Chippewa Township, and that's the way it will stay," Kerr said.

Regarding open burning, the village is compliant with the EPA burning rules in the state. "The only thing you can't burn under our code is trash. Our code says what the EPA rules say, the same as rules everywhere in Ohio," he said.

Van Nostran said anyone with questions about the meeting can call him at (330) 658-4612. Kerr can be reached at (330) 658-2181.